Wyoming Legislature Convenes 2003 Session

by Michele Barlow

The 2003 General Session of the Wyoming Legislature convened on January 14 and is tentatively scheduled to adjourn on March 6. New faces and ideas in the legislature and the governor's office are spicing up this winter's legislative session.

The 30-member Senate welcomed five new members, including two Republican legislators who switched from the House to the Senate. The 60-member House has 21 new members, the largest number of new state representatives since 1993. Although Republicans hold a 45-15 advantage over Democrats in the House and a 20-10 majority in the Senate, the election of Democrat Dave Freudenthal as governor gives the minority party a stronger voice in policy decisions.

Executive director Dan Heilig and I are leading WOC's lobbying effort within the halls and chambers of Wyoming's magnificent State Capitol. Our greatest asset is the timely action of our members Ð making phone calls, sending emails and writing letters Ð to express genuine concerns and to share experiences and knowledge. We strongly encourage you to respond to our email alerts.

Like most everyone who has chosen to live in Wyoming, WOC members enjoy our state's open spaces and breathtaking panoramas, an amazing abundance and diversity of wildlife, almost unlimited recreational opportunities, clean air and water and some of the most beautiful night skies of any state in America. We often take for granted that these resources will always be available, but unfortunately that is not the case.

We anticipate a number of conservation-related bills to be filed, including ones addressing instream flow, regional haze and surface owners protection. However, at press time these had not been pre-filed so I will not preview them here. Among the legislation pre-filed that will be debated during the session are two important bills that affect Wyoming's night skies and private property rights.

Outdoor Lighting

This bill will clarify current law by specifying that towns, cities and counties have the authority to pass ordinances regulating the types, construction and use of outdoor-lighting equipment. For example, high-quality lighting could include low wattage lights in well-shielded fixtures, time controls or infrared spotlight sensors.

In October 2002, the Outdoor Lighting bill was approved on a 9-3 vote by the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Interim Committee. The 2003 legislative session marks the fifth consecutive year that Senator Cale Case (R-Lander) and other legislators will energetically advocate for an outdoor lighting bill.

WOC supports Senate File 49 because Wyoming's night-sky viewing opportunities are gradually diminishing and the bill promotes energy efficiency and cost savings. Opponents of SF 49 Ñ energy companies and rural electric cooperatives Ñ argue that it will be too expensive to implement.

Our Changing Landscapes

Satellite images dramatically reveal that roughly a third of the light used outdoors escapes upward, totally wasted, into the night sky. Recently, a group of researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center used satellite images of city lights at night to construct a map of the urbanized areas of the United States.

A personal experience: In the mid-1980s, a busload of biology students from New York camped on my family's ranch west of Gillette. After one night beneath a star-studded sky interrupted only by a summer lightning storm, the students expressed profound amazement at the sheer brilliance, ferocity and vastness of Wyoming's night sky. In their hometowns, light pollution and tall buildings obscured the night sky.

International Dark Sky Association

The International Dark Sky Association estimates that each year the United States could save more than a billion dollars by eliminating wasted lighting, savings that would be passed on to electricity consumers

Already, many municipalities and states across the country have passed ordinances designed to limit light pollution. Elected officials and ordinary citizens are discovering that regulated night lighting can be affordable and effective, improve personal safety, promote tourism and protect the pleasantness of neighborhoods and communities. For more info see www.darksky.org

Regulatory Takings Act-Amendments

This bill is two-pronged. First, it creates a law office in the office of the governor to represent private property owners in "proceedings involving government action." Second, it requires state agencies to compensate property owners for a partial or complete "taking" of private property.

In September 2002, the Regulatory Takings Act-Amendments bill was approved on a 11-2 vote by the Joint Agriculture, Public Lands and Water Resources Interim Committee. The 2003 session marks the first year a takings bill has been introduced since the 1995 passage of the Wyoming Regulatory Takings Act.

WOC opposes Senate File 23 because the bill will squelch state and local efforts to protect valuable public resources. Supporters of SF 23 incorrectly claim the bill merely ensures that government agencies will not violate constitutional provisions on takings.

The Wyoming Regulatory Takings Act requires the state Attorney General to develop guidelines and a checklist to help individual agencies identify "actions that have constitutional implications that may result in a taking." The act acknowledges that regulatory agencies must observe constitutional limits on their authority.

So What is a "Taking?"

"... nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

These words, enshrined in the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, (with a similar provision in the Wyoming Constitution) promise that government will not take our land for public purposes without paying for it.

There are essentially two ways a government can "take" property: either a physical seizure or a regulation of uses. The classic example of a physical "taking" occurs when government buys private land at a fair price to build a new public highway. In common parlance the government is exercising its power of eminent domain or condemnation.

Sometimes the government doesn't actually seize the property but merely limits the way the private owner can use it. For example, a state might regulate tree-cutting on private land for erosion control. Since this would reduce the economic uses of the land, some would argue that this is a "taking" as a result of the regulation. However, with regulatory takings claims, the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly demanded that the economic impact be an almost total elimination of value before any taking will be found and compensation required.

Clearly, limitations on the use of property can reduce its value to the owner. However, a corollary of the right to hold property is a duty to refrain from using it in a way that may harm the public health or welfare, or damage the interests of neighboring landowners or the community as a whole.

The struggle to find an equitable balance between the rights of the public to livable communities and the rights of landowners is more than an intellectual exercise. We all live with limitations on our use of private property because the health of our environment and enjoyment of our communities are at stake. This bill, SF 23, will encourage superfluous litigation with the establishment of a private property owner attorney in the governor's office.